A Writer's Take on Global and National Issues with Background Information and Humor As Needed

South Africa Rejects Chinese Condoms: Too Small. What Does That Say About China?

Posted on September 22, 2011

If it does not fit, you can’t commit — to purchasing condoms that are too small for use in a country with a large problem with HIV:

A South African court has blocked the government from buying 11 million Chinese condoms, saying they are too small a newspaper reported Friday.

The finance ministry had awarded a contract to a firm called Siqamba Medical, which planned to buy the Phoenurse condoms from China, the Beeld newspaper said.

A rival firm, Sekunjalo Investments Corporation, turned to the High Court in Pretoria after losing the bid, arguing that their condoms were 20 percent larger than the Chinese ones.

Judge Sulet Potterill blocked the deal with Siqamba, ruling that the condoms were too small, made from the wrong material, and were not approved by the World Health Organisation, the paper said.

South Africa has more HIV infections than any country in the world, with 5.38 million of its 50 million people carrying the virus. [Yahoo]

In all seriousness, based on the above, China once again has delivered a sub-standard product to the west. When will she sell safe and effective products for human use? By now the known parameters of WHO and other health organizations are well known to her.